AMARANtACE^ (amaranth FAMILY.) 427 



stamens. — Bare mountain slopes of the White Mts., and in the Alleghanies 

 from Ya. to Oa. ; also coast of Maine and near Newburyport, Mass. July. 



2. P. dichotoma, Nutt. Smooth, tufted ; stems (6 -12' high) ascending 

 from a rather woody base ; leaves {l-\\' long) and bracts narrowly awl-shaped ; 

 cymes open, ma n //-times forked ; sepals short-pointed; minute bristles in place 

 of petals. — Kooks, Md. to N. C. and Tex. July - Sept. 



3. P. Jamesii, Torr. & Gray. Subcespitose, much branched from the 

 somewhat woody base, minutely puberulent ; leaves filiform subulate, obtuse 

 or mucronate; forked cymes rather close; calyx uarrow-campanulate with 

 turbinate base. — Central Kan. to W. Neb,, Col., and Tex. 



3. SCLERANTHUS, L. Knawel. 



Sepals 5, united below in an indurated cvip, enclosing the utricle. Stamens 

 10 or 5. Styles 2, distinct. — Homely little weeds, with awl-shaped leaves, 

 obscure greenish clustered flowers, and no stipules. (Name from o-kAtjpos, 

 hard, and &udos, flower, from the hardened calyx-tube.) 



S. ANxuus, L. Much branched, spreading (.3-5' high); flowers sessile in 

 the forks; calyx-lobes scarcely margined. — Waste places. (Nat. from Eu.) 



Order 86. AMARANTACE^E. (Amaranth Family ) 



Weedy herbs, icith nearly the characters of the next family, but the flowers 

 mostly imbricated ivith dry and scarious persistent bracts ; these often colored, 

 commonly 3 in number; the 1-celled ovary in our genera 1-ovuled. (The 

 greater part of the order tropical.) 



* Anthers 2-celled ; flowers unisexual ; leaves alternate. 



1. Amarantus. Flowers monoecious or polygamous, all with a calyx of 3 or 5 distinct 



erect sepals, not falling otf with the fruit. 



2. Acnida. Flowers ditecious. Calyx none in the fertile flowers. 



* * Anthers 1-celled ; flowers perfect ; leaves opposite. 

 ?>■ Iresine. Calyx of 5 sepals. Filaments united below into a cujk Flowers paniculate, 

 i. Froelicliia. Calyx 5-cleft. Filaments united into a tube. Flowers spicate. 



1. AMARANTUS, Touru. Amaranth. 



Flowers monoecious or polygamous, 3-bracted. Calyx of 5, or sometimes 3, 

 equal erect sepals, glabrous. Stamens 5, rarely 2 or 3, separate ; anthers 2- 

 celled. Stigmas 2 or 3. Fruit an ovoid 1-seeded utricle, 2- 3-beaked at the 

 apex, mostly longer than the calyx, opening transversely or sometimes burst- 

 ing irregularly. Embryo coiletl into a ring around the albumen. — Annual 

 weeds, of coarse aspect, with alternate and entire petioled setosely tipped 

 leaves, and small green or purplish flowers in axillary or terminal spiked 

 clusters; in late summer and autumn. ('Apapauros, U7fading,hecim9e the dry 

 calyx and bracts do not wither. The Romans, like tlie Greeks, wrote Ama- 

 rantus, which the early botanists incorrectly altered to Amaranthiis.) 

 § 1 . Utricle thin, circumscissile, the top falling away as a lid ; flowers polygamous. 



* Flowers in terminal and axillary simple or mostly panicled spikes ; stem erect 

 (1 -^° high) ; leaves long-petiole d ; stamens and sepcds 5. 



H- Red Amaranths. Flowers and often leaves tinged with crimson or purple. 



A. HVPOCHONDRi4crs, L. Glabrous; leaves oblong-lanceolate, acute or 

 pointed at both ends; sjjikes veri/ obtuse, thick, crowded, the terminal one 

 19 



